Tokyo-based Clue announced in November the launch of a data management service for drones called DroneCloud. The service will offer a platform to manage drone data, such as tracking who operates which drone, managing projects and team members operating drones, as well as managing and sharing drone flight data.

In the platform, the project management menu allows users to create and manage a project such as assigning drone managers and selecting which drone to use. The data management menu can store photos and videos taken from drones, as well as manage flight plans and other project information. The flight log menu records weather conditions, and where and when drones are being operated. The individual management menu manages model specs of drones used, records total flying hours, and maintenance status. The service is available for a monthly subscription fee of 9,800 yen ($80).

DroneCloud’s dashboard

Ryosuke Abe, CEO and founder of Clue explains:

DroneCloud is a cloud service for companies using drones in their business. There are few peripheral services supporting their efficient drone operations such as managing drones and acquired data. We can support their safe and efficient operations by offering a service allowing them to manage various data in an integrated way. Since business use of drones are more advanced in the US and Europe, we will target the global market. That’s why we are offering the service in English as well as in Japanese.

He has a website called Drone Borg that covers drone startups and use cases from the world. Abe is a serial entrepreneur, having launched fashion sharing business Loving’Box. Abe is leveraging his aerospace engineering background in the drone space.

Abe says that DroneCloud will be a platform for data processing solutions in the cloud, acquiring flight data by integrating drones from different manufacturers via API (application program interface) or SDK (software development kit).

As the Aviation Law has been amended in Japan, when a company wants to use a drone, they must check flight restricted areas, apply for a flying permit, and register the drone. Clue will help users process these tasks, aiming to support overall drone operations for businesses.

Abe outlined their plans:

In addition to DroneCloud, we are looking at creating a whole “operating system” for business-use drones. Only Airware is running the business, but there is no outstanding startup in this sector. While the hardware business of drones will be commoditized in the future, I think the operating system software and the cloud will be the key to secure our competitive advantage. We intend to make DroneCloud a must-have cloud service for drone businesses, providing an OS control board that will enable seamless data integration with the cloud platform.

Shintaro is Japanese editor and planner based in Tokyo. He’s active in the community as an event manager, and does his best to play matchmaker in local ecosystem — not only startups but also people and entities in culture and government. Find him on Twitter, at @eshintaro.